On November 4th Fred the bike is embarking on a six month journey across Southeast Asia. Starting in Singapore, Fred plans to make his way up the west coast of Malaysia, across Thailand, Cambodia, up through Vietnam and into Laos. After that... who knows? Fred invites you to follow him through his adventure. Any advice from fellow travelers is always welcome.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Narathiwat-Kota Bharu

Total Distance:77.65km
Total Time:4h18m05s
Average Speed:18.1km/h
Maximum Speed:41.0km/h
Total Distance So far:10,373.62km

I've decided the southeast of Thailand is my least favorite part of the country. Every stop has bee sort of a disappointment. Narathiwat was no exception. It was loud, dirty and smelly. For some reason hotel rooms run about double in this area what they do elsewhere. The one I ended up with
was pretty bad, hosting some of the biggest cockroaches I have ever seen. You know that urban legend about the guy with the cockroach in his ear? Well today I swear I could feel something moving around in there. Let's just keep our fingers crossed that it's all in my head.
I set out for the border crossing at Sungei Kolok, about 65km from the city. I was headed here based on the fact that "Lonely Planet" says this is where you have to go to enter Malaysia. There is a border crossing there, but what they fail to tell you is that there is also one only 30km from the city. Once on the other side you only have to travel 20km to Kota Bharu, as opposed to the 45km from Sungei Kolok. Why oh why do I keep listening to this stupid book? Luckily I was smart enough to figure it out. Mainly due to the giant sign that said "BORDER", and had an arrow pointing to the border.
Well, I made it to Malaysia. I've almost gone full circle. Next stop, the Perenthian Islands for som Rn'R!

1 comment:

Michael Burchill said...

I blame the little British guy ...